Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Intuitive Mediterranean Moderation.....(It's a long one)

I've been reading ALOT lately. Mostly about eating and I've learned some very interesting things and come to some conclusions. One of the things I've learned is about the French way of eating. I'm not a fan of the French people for the most part, they have not been helpful to us in the past, and regardless of how helpful we've been to them, they've got an imperious, shabby attitude towards us. But they do know a thing or two about food and wine. And how to eat and live apparently, because in spite of the fact that they, as a rule, eat butter, cheese, bread, and dessert regularly, and drink wine like it was water, they have a miniscule obesity rate compared to ours, likewise for their rates of heart disease, one of our top killers.

The differences seem to be in portion sizes,(quality not quantity) the fact that they make mealtime a priority, they eat slowly and savor their food, that they shop for fresh food (not processed) almost daily, and that they walk everywhere. And here's another shocker, their children will eat pretty much anything..no pickiness, no having to fix separate foods for a fussy child. They are raised to appreciate and love all food.
Contrast that to our whiny, demanding kids, who are unhealthy from too many McGoodies that they MUST have or else.
And contrast their markets and lifestyle when our lives here are flooded with diets and "diet foods" and our obsession with working out at the gym. In between the fast and processed foods, our markets are full of fat free this and sugar free that and low carb nonsense. And yet we are still in poor shape, inside and out. We are simply living too fast, driving too much (hard not to do in California, sadly), spending too much time with our "devices" and not enough time with our loved ones, enjoying life.

I've also been learning about "Intuitive Eating".. the idea that our bodies know when its time to eat, what we need to eat, and how much. Again, it's a matter of slowing down, listening to our own bodies, and eating purposefully and thoughtfully, i.e. when we're eating, we should just EAT.. not watching the tv or running off to a meeting or playing on the computer.

And what if you combined these two ideas.. slowing down, enjoying food, enjoying life, doing things purposefully, eating well, but not eating too much all the time, eating fresh, and moving around much more? I'll let you know how that goes, the trials and tribulations of re-defining the American diet and the American lifestyle. I don't expect miracles immediately, and I don't expect there won't be speedbumps along the way. But it has to be better than what we're doing now.